Growing Up in the Loess Hills (Chad Graeve, Park Ranger)

As a park ranger, Chad Graeve educates the public on working landscapes every day. Hear his take on maintaining working landscapes such as the Loess Hills.

Transcript: Growing Up in the Loess Hills

When I was in elementary school and high school, my family lived on top of the Loess Hills. And I went through school and you know, I lived on top of a hill that was fun to sled down in the winter. That's about all it meant to me. Then I went away to college. I went to the eastern side of Iowa. And one of my professors asked me, "What can you tell me about the Loess Hills?" And my response was "the loess what?" And I was pretty embarrassed about that. And he tells me, "You have this place over here in western Iowa that is unparalleled. There's only one other place and it's in China." And I came home for the summer and I found a job working as a park ranger intern in a preserve here in the Loess Hills and just started learning everything that I could about the Loess Hills. And what I discovered was that this is a really incredible, special place and it's something we can be proud of.